David H. Tag, 58, horticulturist and exporter

David H. Tag, a former Baltimore County horticulturist who more recently was an exporter and collector of exotic plants, died April 2 of injuries sustained in an attack after an intruder broke into his home in Jardinas, Honduras. He was 58.

At his death, he was a commercial grower of tropical plants and flowers for the wholesale floral industry. He established his firm, Honduran Exotics, after moving to Honduras from Baltimore in 1986.

Since 1981, he had conducted research related to tropical cut flower production, handling, packaging and shipping and had traveled throughout the world promoting tropical flowers and foliage.

"One of his early assignments was collecting orchids and other tropical plants which he later planted in the tropical rain forest at the National Aquarium in 1981," said his stepfather, Frederick J. Thompson of Towson.

Born and reared in Baltimore's Hamilton neighborhood, he was a 1953 graduate of Baltimore City College and earned a bachelor's degree in ornamental horticulture from the University of Maryland, College of Agriculture. He earned a master's degree in agricultural education from University College in 1983.

He owned Manor Landscape Co. from 1958 to 1986 and the Little Nursery in Baltimore County.

He taught vocational horticulture at the Western Vocational Technical Center in Catonsville and designed and directed the installation of the Baltimore Flower and Garden Show and the Washington Flower and Garden Show.

"He came from a family of farmers, and he grew flowers from the time he was a small child," Mr. Thompson said. "He was very precise and knew not only the name of the flower but its species and genus."

A humanitarian who was interested in helping disadvantaged Honduran children get an education, he paid the tuition of several students a year who were sent to the local Seventh-day Adventist school that was near his home.

"He helped troubled kids all of his life," Mr. Thompson said. "There was a child who pulled a gun in a classroom, and after learning about the little boy, he found out that he was abandoned by his parents and lived in cardboard box under a bridge."

In his leisure, he enjoyed restoring antique automobiles and had restored a Model-A Ford and was a member of the Kasier-Frazer Club.

Services are to be held at 3 p.m. today at Grace English Evangelical Lutheran Church, 8601 Valleyfield Road, Lutherville. The family will receive friends after the service in the Fellowship Hall.

In addition to his stepfather, he is survived by a brother, Kenneth C. Tag; and his father, Henry E. Tag, both of Catonsville.